Toast, It's not just for breakfast anymore: Deficit Still Too Large

Monday, August 14, 2006

Deficit Still Too Large

The Federal Budget Deficit has come down quite a bit this year, but it's still too large. It now appears that no matter who we elect, the spending is going to rise. It's frustrating, but until we can get the politicians under control, we need some more income.

Conservatives argue that lowering the tax rate increases federal tax income. This is true since it spurs the economy, but at some point it stops working. Imagine if they lowered the tax rate all the way to 0%. Obviously this would result in $0 tax income, so the tax rate that results in the highest tax income must lie somewhere between 0% and where it is now. Without looking into the data, I'm going to assume that we are close to the optimal tax rate, and tinkering with it won't change government income much.

Liberals argue that government spending spurs the economy better than the original owner of the money (at least that's what I think they argue. I really don't get their strategy). This might be true as well, but it leads to standardized jobs without competition. This has the unintended consequence of giving no incentive to be economical, or even do a good job (i.e. the Big Dig). It also tends to create lazy people who feel entitled to a government paycheck while barely working or actually doing nothing at all to earn it. I find this option unacceptable.

I'm not going to write a post on how to resolve the chronic budget problems of America, but I can offer a temporary solution. Until the deficit situation is solved, I've come up with a way for the government to make a little cash on the side. It involves all of the national monuments in America. Sadly, I bet someone will come out against it :(






Listen to our anthem

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